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The Seminar Network, which includes the constellation of groups funded by the billionaire industrialist Charles Koch and around 700 like-minded conservatives and libertarians who contribute at least $100,000 annually, will now operate as Stand Together.

Freedom Partners, an entity that was once used to air campaign
commercials, will cease to exist. Americans for Prosperity will now
oversee all political and policy efforts. Groups that cater to specific
constituencies, like Libre for Latinos or Concerned Veterans for
America, have moved under the AFP umbrella.

If you doubt the United States is controlled by the rich and corporations:

In 2019, state legislatures across the country are enacting radical
new restrictions on abortion. Alabama banned virtually all abortions.
Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio banned all abortions after six
weeks, which is before many women even know they are pregnant. Missouri
banned abortion after nine weeks.

While these policies are extreme, the politicians responsible have the financial backing of some of America’s largest companies. In their corporate literature, these companies present themselves as champions of women and gender equality. But they have collectively donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians seeking to roll back reproductive rights.

Some organizations and corporations are still promoting the use of nuclear power. How dumb is that?

A massive concrete dome built during the Cold War to contain waste from US Nuclear testing has degraded and began leaking nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has confirmed.

60 of the largest corporations in the United States paid no income taxes for 2018 despite earning a composite $79 billion in net income. Worse, these companies actually received $4.3 billion in tax rebates.

When using social media to report on President Donald Trump’s
comments, many major corporate media outlets often succeed only in
amplifying his misinformation and lies instead of setting the record
straight, according to a new study.

After examining about 2,000 tweets from more than 30 Twitter accounts controlled by major news sources over three weeks earlier this year, Media Matters for America (MMFA) reported Friday that the accounts simply spread Trump’s lies 65 percent of the time, without providing context or disputing his remarks.

Those on disability benefits and low incomes will be among worst affected

Corporations, which drove the train, got even more of a tax cut than they wanted. Yet they refused to promise that their huge tax break would hike worker wages. Medium-sized and big businesses got something they had only dreamed of — though in provisions so badly written one tax expert called them a “travesty.”

Deficit hawks, that is, those opposed to creating any new federal debt, hemmed and hawed and finally folded, as one commentator put it, “like a cheap suit.”

An idea that would have raised $1 trillion and paid for much of the tax cuts was soundly defeated by a powerful business lobby.

Republicans used $1.5 trillion in what some call accounting gimmicks to either hide the true cost of the bill or help justify their votes.

The bill was drafted in secret, partly to keep it from Congress’s own members who, it was feared, would leak it to lobbyists.

[And, of course, the Koch brothers and their fellow plutocrats were involved.]

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in September 2016 looked at its
proposals for individual tax cuts and found that by 2025, 99.6 percent
of its net tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent of earners. The
nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said the plan would cause the federal debt
to rise $3 trillion in its first 10 years and $6.6 trillion by the end
of the second decade.

Trump, guided by the extreme right-wing group “The Federalist Society” has been loading up courts with pro-corporation, anti-worker, judges. Here’s one of the latest examples of the Right-Wing Supreme Court screwing workers:

Increasingly, arbitration agreements (included by banks, utilities, and employers) are forced on consumers & workers. There’s supposed to be an element of “consent” involved–the affected parties both agree to arbitration. [In today’s world, it’s a matter of “take it or leave it”. Want electricity? Sign the binding arbitration agreement or get your electricity somewhere else. Want a job? Sign the binding arbitration agreement or turn down the job.]

The Arbitration Act’s “first principle”—that “arbitration is strictly a matter of consent, not coercion.” As a matter of fact, this employer had drafted the arbitration agreement (ambiguities and all) and had forced Varela to sign it as a condition of his employment. Some consent. (The Roberts Five have a tendency to invent facts in cases to suit their desired outcome—Citizens United and Shelby County being notable examples.)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in dissent pointed out how “treacherously” the court has strayed from the principle that arbitration is a matter of consent: “Shut from the Court’s sight is the ‘Hobson’s choice’ employees face: ‘accept arbitration on their employer’s terms or give up their jobs.’ ” Once again, the corporate interest won, 5–4.

"Local media" (is it?)
For those who aren’t quite sure why these media layoffs keep happening, or think “it’s the internet!” or “people don’t pay to subscribe,” there’s a lot more going on. Though that is part of that. Here’s a cliffs notes version - not exhaustive but it hits the highlights (Twitter thread)

Did you know?

Funding Corruption

The Lie of “Nader Cost Gore the 2000 Election”

It’s one of the oft-cited lies, regurgitated by people and by the media (they’re lazy). Gore lost by 543 votes. 200,000 Florida Democrats voted for Bush! There were 8 third parties running, and ANY ONE of them got more than Gores 543-vote loss. Most of those who voted for Nader would have never voted for Gore, anyway. This lie is promulgated by the duopoly to discourage voters from voting for a third party.Dispelling the Myth